Adjustable awning



June l 1926.

F. A. ANTON ADJUSTABLE AWNING Filed Sept'. 14, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Eme/dar,

June -l 1926. 1,587,135

F. A. ANTON ADJUSTABLE AWNNG Filed Sept. 14, 1925 Sheetsf-Sheet 2 man'nul'lllllflllllllll Patented June l, 1926.

UNITED STATES FREDERICK A. ANTON, vF TOIPEKA, KANSAS.

ADJUSTABLE AWNING.

Application led September 14, 1925. Serial No. 56,200.

rThis invention relates to window awnings of that class in which theawning fabric is wound or unwound upon a roller, and ladapted in thelatter condition, to provide an upright or straight portion and anlinclined yor visor portion, and is designed as an improvement over mycopending application for patent filed September 17, 1923, Serial No.663,142, in which the visor is adjustable both as to its own extent orarea and its position intermediate the ends of the window.

With the type of construction shown in said copending case, it has been`found the tension of certain springs was of extreme importance ifsatisfactory operation of the awning was to be secured, as with eachchange in proportion of parts or in weights of material, it wasnecessary to utilize a spring of a different tension. Then the springswere properly proportioned as regarde the other parts of the awning, theawning would operate with entire satisfaction. However, when the springsexerted 5 too great a pull, the visor would be formed in thisapplication, however, the tension of the springs can vary withinrelatively wide limits, the only requirement being that` the forceexerted by said springs shall be stronger than ordinary gusts o-f windtending-to collapse the awning. y

With the objects of producing an awning of the type last mentioned, theinvention consists in certain novel and useful features of constructionand organization of parts as hereinafter described and claimed; and inorder that it may be fully understood, reference is tobe had to theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a face view of one side-ofan awning embodying the invention, as it will appear in collapsed orrolled position.

Figure 2 is aside view of the same, and illustrates the open positionfofthe awning in dotted lines at the bottom of certain slide C l guideways.

Figure 3 is a perspective View of the awning as it appears in dottedlines in Figure 2. Figure 4L isa reduced side lview of theawning as itwill appear with a partial visor at a point intermediate the length ofthe vertical guides. j

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail view of the construction of thevisor-forming guide bar and friction catch device.

Figure 6 is a section on the line VVI-Vl of Figure 5.

In the said drawing, where liker reference characters identifycorresponding parts in all of the gures, 1 indicates a Window opening,and 2 one of a pair of brackets secured to the frame of the window andprovided with conventional or other suitable arms 3 for the operativesupport of a roller ft on which is wound the fabric of the awning 5. y i

Secured to thelower endof the `bracket 2, it being understood that theother side of the window will be provided with duplicate equipment, isan arm or flange 6 to which is secured the vupper end of a slightlyoutwardly inclining guide rod 7, having its is pivoted one end of arelatively longbodied .l

U-shaped roller guide `13, formed with .a socket at its outer end for.engagement with one of the side arms 14 of the visor frame 15.

Mounted on the guide 7 is a slide V21, having an outwardly-projectingbifurcated lug 22. A sliding or rolling brace member 23 is pivotallysecured adjacent its upper end in the lug 22 of the slide 21, andsaid-brace member is equipped at its-lower-end with an anti-frictionroller 24ridingon the guide 13, although it will be understood that yanyother method of providing a relatively sliding connection between thedescribedmembers may be employed.

The continued engagement of the roller 24 with the guide 13 and iconsequently a continued ldownward pressure of the 4former on thelatter-is insured by means of a retractile spring 25 connected at oneend to a suitable hook 26 on the brace 23, vand connected at its otherend to a suitable hook 27 formed on the slide 9.

The upper end and inner face of the brace 23 is formed with a conicalrecess 28 and an alined hole or passageway for reception of a headedbolt 29. The cross or bar member effecting the formation of the visor,comprises a hollow tube 30 in the end of which is forcibly driven tosecure rigidity, an end member 31 having its extremity formed with aconical head 32 for reception wit-hin the socket 28 of the brace 23, andsaid member 31 is also'formed with a side channel or keyhole slot 33 forreception of the headed bolt 29, whereby the brace member may besecurely fastened in position and still lend itself to readydisinantlement.

The awning roller 4 is equipped at one of its ends with a suitable spoolor pulley 34, in which is wound the pull rope 35, extending downwardlythrough a guide loop 36 and being secured at its lower end to anysuitable type of fastening device 37.

The operation of the awning is substantially as follows: l/Vith theawning and its operative parts in the folded position shown in Figures 1and 2, the weight of the movable part of the structure is supported bythe pull rope 36, and the springs 25 are under a slight tension tendingto effect the forniation of the visor, but this tendency is overcome bythe preponderance of force exerted i rope is now gradually relaxed andthe structure in collapsed position, descends the guides 7, until thebottom of the slides 9 contact with the supporting bracl-:ets 8. lhenthis occurs, the weight of the structure is transferred from the fabric5 to the brackets 8, and the force of the tensioned s prings 25 applyingdownward pressure through the roller 24- of the brace ecc .iitrically ofthe pivotal point of the extended U-shaped guides 13, effects theoutward swinging of the U-frame 15, until the full visor is formed andthe braces have sumed the position shown in dotted lines, Figure 2, byriding` outwardly on the guides 13. During this unfolding operation ofthe visor, the tension on the springs will be slightly decreased as theplane of the rollers 241- in their final position on the guides 13,relative to the pivotal points of the latter, is slightly lower thanthat of the plane of the rollers when the visor 'is in folded position,as clearly illustrated in dotted and full lines respectively in Figure2.

The tension of the springs with the visor in lowered position, however,is sufficient to maintain the visor and fabric taut and to counteractany tendency of puffs of wind to eect the'collapse of said viso. 1t isalso to be clearly understood at this point that the force exerted bythe braces on the U- frame of the visor, is greater than the forcetending to collapse the visor when the pull rope is rolled to effect thcraising of the awning, that is with the awning in its open positionshown in Figure 1, when force on the straight portion of the fabric S isexerted, tending to collapse the visor, said force is equal to theentire weight of the structure, but is split up in a series of forcesthrough the effect of the relatively large friction between the bar 30and the fabric. Due to the resultant force from the outward and upwardpressure of the fabric on the cross bar 30, the weight of the braces 23and slides 21 and 9, is partially removed from the visor portion of thefabric. The arms 141 of the U-frame 15 and the guides 13 are thereforeacted upon as if they formed a single lever with a fulcruin at thepoints of engagement of the rollers 24 with the said guides 13, the pullof the fabric being exerted at one side of the fulcruin through thecross bar 15 of the U-frame, and the pull of the springs 23 beingexerted on the other end of the lever through its connection to theslides 9. Vith this explanation of the operation, which is ielieved tobe substantially correct, it will be evident that as long as the springs23 exert a greater force at one end than the pull of the fabric at theother end, it will be impossible for the visor to collapse, until thestructure as a whole has been elevated to the tops of the guides 7, andthe slides 21 meet with an obstruction.

1When this occurs, the operator continues to pull on the pull rope andovercomes the force of the springs 23 and starts the collapse of thevisor, the springs 23 being tensioned at first until the guides 13 swingfrom a position below the horizontal, as shown in dotted lines Figure 2,to the horizontal, from which point the tension on the springs commencesto decrease. As soon as the guides reach an inclined position, slightlygreater in pitch than that shown in Figure li, a tripping action occurs,and the rollers and braces rapidly travel downward on the guides to thefull-line position shown in Figure 2, the visor rapidly collapsing andthe entire structure sliding downwardly on the guides 7 a length equalto the suddenly collapsed portion of the visor. The operator thencontinues to roll the fabric 5 on the roller 1 until completely woundupon the roller.

lf the operator now d-esires to form a partial visor at the bottom ofthe guides 7, he lowers the structure as described, and then merelyslackens the pull rope until a visor of the desired area has beenSecured. The rollers of the braces 23, when the Visor is formed in thisfashion, will remain at the inner ends of the guides 13, and it will bellU impossible to adjust the partial visor so formed to varying heightsof the window, as the springs 25 do notvhave enough leverage on thebraces to overcome the force tending to collapse the visor when it isattempted to elevate the entire structure.

However, if the operatorv desires to form a partial visor at aparticular point intermediate the top and bottom of the window, he willpermit the full visor to be formed .at the bottom thereof, the braces 23thus rolling outwardly on the guides 13 and giving the spring 25 apreponderancy of leverage over the visor. He will then elevate theentire visor, and will permit the slides 21 to contact with the brackets6 as if he intended to entirely collapse the mechanism. He will continueto pull on the rope and roll up the fabric 5 thus decreasing the area ofthe visor, until it has attained any size between full extension andsubstantially the positionl shown in Figure 4, which is just short ofthe tripping point of the braces. The visor thus formed may now belowered to any desired point, as the braces 23 are .at the outer ends ofthe guides 13 and the force of spring 25 thus preponderates over theforce tending to collapse the visor.

From the above description of the operation of the invention, it will beapparent that the proper operation thereof is dependent to Some extenton the creation of a resultant force through the friction between thefabric 5 and the cross bar 30. It has been thought desirable, therefore,in order to absolutely insure the proper operation of the awning underall weather conditions, such as moisture, windy weather and the like, toprovide friction or catch means on the cross bar for engagement with theawning at their point of contact when the visor is fully extended. Asone means of carrying out this frictional engagement, the fabric isprovided near its side edges (one edge only being illustrated) withgrommets 38 for detachable reception of studs 39 form-ed at the ends ofthe cross bar 31 (see Figure 6). With the parts so interlocked, it willbe evident that the accidental collapsing of the visor when it isattempted to elevate the entire structure is positively guarded against.Y

It is also desirable in this connection to point out that the fabric ispreferably rolled on the roller 4 in the manner illustrated, so that bythe time the bar 31 is elevated, the increase in diameter of the rollerdue to the rolled fabric, will throw the fabric to the dotted lineposition in Figure 6, and thus get it into proper position for the readyrelease or disengagement of the grommets 38 from the studs 39.

It is believed the construction and operation of the invention has beensufliciently set forth to obviate further recapitulation, and

it is to be understood, that while l have described and claimed thepreferred embodiment of the invention, I reserve the right to make allclaims properly falling within the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims.

`1. A window awning, comprising a roller, a fabric attached at its upperend to said roller, a vertically movable and pivoted U- frame attachedto the lower end of the fabric, a visor-forming bar, and yielding meanshaving a shifting connection with the U-frame and applying force tendingto oppose the pull of the fabric.

2. A window awning, comprising a roller, a fabric attached at its upperend to said roller, a vertically movable and pivoted U- frame attachedto the lower end of the fabric, a visor-forming bar, and yielding meanshaving a shifting connection with the U-frame whereby the force appliedby said means is substantially the same when the U-frame is vertical orhorizontal. y

3. A window awning, comprising a roller, a fabric attached at its upperend torsaid roller, a vertically movable and pivoted U- frame attachedto the lower end of the fabric, a visor-forming bar, and yielding meanshaving an inwardly and outwardly sliding connection with the U-frame todecrease or increase its leverage on said U-frame.

4. A vwindow awning, comprising a roller, a fabric attached at its upperend to said roller, a vertically movable and pivoted U- frame attachedto the lower end of the fabric, a visor-forming bar, cooperatingfriction means carried by said bar and the fabric at their normalengagement point, and yielding means applying force on said U-frameopposing the pull of the fabric.

5; The combination of a cross-bar and supporting arms, comprisinginterengaging heads and sockets, the latter being provided with apassageway, a headed bolt in said passageway, and the heads being formedwith a transverse slot for the reception of said headed bolts.

6. A window awning comprising a roller, a pair of vertical guide bars, aU-frame having its ends slidingly mounted on and pivoted to said guidebars, a visor-forming bar slidingly mounted on said guide bars,connections between said U-frame and visorbar and having shiftingattachment to the former, and a fabric attached at its opp-osite ends tothe roller and U-frame respectoively and in engagement with said visor-7. A window awningcompri-sing a roller, a U-frame pivoted at its ends, avisor-bar secured above said U-frame, connections between said U-frameand visor-bar and having shifting attachment to the former, and a fabricattached at its opposite ends to the connections, and a fabric attachedat its opposite ends to the roller and U-'rame leepectively and inengagement with the vison nar.v

In Witness whereof I hereunto ax my signature.

FREDERICK A. ANTON.

